Page 146 of Ink Me Three Times
Her eyes search mine, desperate and scared and stubborn all at once.
“You didn’t… you’re not getting back with her?” she asks, so quiet it kills me.
“No,” I say firmly. “Absolutely not. Never again.”
She exhales, just a shaky little puff of air, but it sounds like her lungs are finally working again. I reach up and cup her cheek, and she leans into it, too tired to hold herself up.
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I should’ve chased after you. I should’ve explained.”
She shakes her head. “You tried. I ran. I just… I didn’t want it to be true.”
“It’s not,” I promise. “None of it. She’s poison. I was stupid for ever thinking she wasn’t.”
“She knows,” Ivy whispers, almost too quiet to hear.
“Knows what?”
She hesitates, swallows, then meets my eyes. “That I’m pregnant.”
The world stops. Everything inside me goes still. The hum of the fridge, the clatter of plates in the kitchen, the hiss of the milk steamer, none of it registers. Just her. Her and those words.
My chest tightens, but I force myself to breathe. To stay calm. To stay here, with her, where she needs me.
“Pregnant?”
She nods.
“How… how far along are you?” I ask gently.
“Almost twelve weeks,” she says. “It’s… it’s triplets.”
Triplets.
Holy shit.
I blink, processing. Three. Three little people.
“And you don’t know if…” I start, but she’s already shaking her head.
“It’s you, Mitchell, or Timothy,” she says, voice trembling. “I don’t know, Freddie. I wish I did. I told them, and Tim was good about it, but Mitchell… he freaked out.”
Silence falls between us. Heavy. Thick. But underneath it, there’s more. Something warm and flickering and terrifying.
Hope.
I take her hand, wrap my fingers around hers, and squeeze. She looks up at me, eyes wet and tired and so fucking beautiful it hurts.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say. My voice comes out rougher than I mean it to, but I don’t care. “Okay? Whatever happens. We’ll figure it out.”
Her chin wobbles, and a tear finally spills down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb.
Silence falls between us. Heavy. Thick. But underneath it, there’s something hot and flickering and terrifying.
Determination.
Because Trina knows. She’s using it. She’s trying to dig her claws in again, trying to poison everything I care about, and this time… this time she’s not getting away with it.
I feel something cold and sharp settle in my chest. A promise.
